I am forgetting things, but here is a short recap of the last few weeks (months?):
-I had a cold for 3 over weeks
-I picked olives twice.
-I saw Dennis Ross speak at the American Colony Hotel
-My mom came to visit for a bit and we went to Turkey for a bit
-Her father (my grandfather) died. I didn't go home for a funeral or anything because he was not Jewish and was cremated and they scattered his ashes yesterday.
-I went to Bethlehem for Christmas; a ridiculous adventure with an Israeli (it is against the law for Israelis to go there) and another American. Long story short - too much port, the guy slipped and fell and we had a crazy ambulance ride and ended up in a Palestinian hospital but STILL made it to midnight mass in the church of the nativity. Saw Abbass from a distance. Got home around 2am
-I was accepted to study at the Arava Environmental Institute at a Kibbutz Ketura in the South for the spring semester. I will stay in Jerusalem until med feb, go down there, and come back to the states towards the end of June. I might be doing their fundraising bike ride across Israel in May, so get your checkbooks ready.
-the org i work for is a bit of a mess. The Palestinian co-director was fired. and we are at least $250,000 because a grant we were promised from the Swedish government hasn't come in yet. They keep having meetings of "what is IPCRI? what are we doing?" a couple people quit/were fired and paychecks are constantly in question. But I got my $500 for Dec, so I’m feeling ok about the whole thing....
-I have been meeting with someone to work on my Arabic and it is getting SO much better. In Jordan I was really reliant on my sister. Now I can talk to cab drivers in mixes of Arabic and Hebrew which is fun, but sometimes they get excited and start hitting on me.....so I tend to take the bus and cross my fingers that they won't explode.
-I have been to Hebron twice. I really want to go visit Palestinian areas up North and have been in contact with a young guy who was at the conference, but he keeps saying stuff like “I will never forget your angel face”, so now I don’t know if I want to go...His French Co-worker was cute, but apparently he’s left the country.


I should go be productive before meeting my tutor in 20 minutes. Feel free to comment so I know this is worthwhile...
-t